Niki Lauda: 'Mercedes do not need Fernando Alonso'

Fernando Alonso's hopes of joining a winning Formula 1 team for 2018 appear to be waning.

Earlier, his manager Flavio Briatore suggested that the Spaniard was targeting Mercedes or Ferrari, after three years of struggling with McLaren-Honda.

However, Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne said in Austria last weekend that the Maranello team are "not interested" in linking back up with their former winning driver.

Niki Lauda, the Mercedes team chairman, is quoted as saying by AS newspaper: "I do not think Ferrari wants to have him again.

"He left with a contract, which is the same as what happened with him and McLaren-Mercedes."

As for the possibility of Alonso joining the Mercedes works team, Lauda said: "We have drivers who do their jobs, so if we win with [Lewis] Hamilton and [Valtteri] Bottas, why do we need a replacement?"

Mercedes currently lead Ferrari at the top of the team rankings by 33 points.